With the weather set fair for sunshine and a pleasant warm breeze I decided to take a chance and go back to Aston Rowant and see if I could locate the Frog Orchids, assuming they were still there. I could remember approximately where they had been on what is a very large reserve but not the precise location and the subsequent passage of time would certainly have dulled my memory.
I left it until early afternoon to visit but my journey was disrupted by a serious accident on the M40 motorway which brought traffic to a standstill just before the junction where I needed to turn off. Frustratingly, three lanes of traffic edged at a snail's pace towards the turnoff but eventually I made it and was soon parking in an unexpectedly deserted car park at the top of the reserve.
I took the track that runs along the top of the slope looking down to the motorway and saw the lanes of static traffic on the southbound carriageway had now cleared.
I rejoiced that I had escaped the motorway and was now high on the hill enjoying the surrounds of nature.Between me and the distant motorway lay a steep sloping escarpment, a sea of summer grasses swaying in the wind with the bright pink heads of Pyramid Orchids, hundreds of them, glowing like precious rubies within the grass.
Various uncertain tracks left by the sheep which graze here in winter wound through the flora.I followed one but met with no success. I began to doubt myself but persisted in my search.Maybe that patch over there? Maybe this one? I was floundering I had to admit.
Much of the habitat was so similar but also looked a little too lush for orchids so I looked for areas with shorter grass, that were more open and sparsely vegetated. Areas where herbs such as wild thyme and other low growing plants I could not name grew.
Frog Orchids are small, just like the Musk Orchids I saw on Wednesday but they are even less colourful and blend perfectly with their surroundings.The flowers vary from yellowish green to reddish brown.You really have to concentrate to pick them out from all the weird and wonderful downland flowers, leaves and stalks at your feet.
Frog Orchids are described as local and are still widely distributed in northern and western Britain but over a relatively small number of sites.They have declined in central England and East Anglia but are still present in reasonable numbers on the chalk hills that run from Sussex to Wiltshire.
Over an hour of fruitless searching had passed and I had all but given up and was returning to the main track and as I did, there right at my feet was a Frog Orchid. I was relieved that I had managed not to tread on it..
My sense of achievement was almost overwhelming. An absolute joy of discovery and a feeling of self satisfaction enveloped me. I even let out a cry of triumph, there was no one around after all..
For a minute I stood looking down on my unassuming prize - no more than two and a half inches high with mostly tightly furled buds giving it a knobbly appearance.It will soon open its buds in the coming days but this did not concern me, all that mattered was it was a Frog Orchid, I had found it myself and best of all there were still Frog Orchids here after all the years that had passed.
I took some images, careful to not flatten the ground to betray its presence but need not have worried as the vegetation underfoot was so thick, short and tightly bound together it just sprang back and you would never know anyone had been here.
Fired with renewed enthusiasm I endeavoured to look for more.All those years ago I had found quite a number.Surely there should be more or was this the only one left? Careful not to tread on any undiscovered orchids I wandered around looking but for some while met with no success but then with 'my eye in' I found another two and then another three in discrete pockets nearby and so it went on until I had found exactly thirty spread over two relatively close areas.
Most were nowhere as tall as the first one I had found and were very hard to discern unless you knew that they were likely to be there.So unassuming in both colour and form they almost melted into their surroundings. As with the Musk Orchid this works to their benefit as no one would notice them even though they were relatively near to a track used by dog walkers and hikers.
I had spent two very pleasant and rewarding hours up here, in my own world and encountering absolutely no one.I returned the way I had come and there was time to admire a Clustered Bellflower and an aberrant pale pink Pyramid Orchid as I made my way back to the car, feeling a palpable sense of triumph at having found the Frog Orchids.
Clustered Bellflower |
Aberrant Pyramid Orchid |
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